Autonomous flight drone for infrastructure (transmission line) inspection (3)

Drones are currently being used for a wide range of applications, such as for the i-Construction initiative and public surveys [1] conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and for surveillance and for crop-dusting operations [2]. For these purposes, drones are controlled either by a pilot through an FPV, or drones fly autonomously by estimating self-position using GPS. GPS data, however, can become faulty under bridges, inside tunnels, or near high-voltage power lines [3], which could lead to drone flight errors. To address this issue, we are developing a system for conducting infrastructure inspections using drones that basically use GPS for autonomous flight control, but can also estimate self-position through image processing when GPS cannot be used under situations such as those mentioned above.